The proliferation of transaction accounts, which allow the cardholder to pay with credit rather than cash, started in the United States in the early 1950s. Initial transaction cards were typically restricted to select restaurants and hotels, and the cards were often limited to an exclusive class of individuals. Since the introduction of plastic credit cards, the use of transaction cards has rapidly proliferated from the United States, to Europe, and then to the rest of the world. Transaction cards are not only information carriers transaction facilitators, but also typically allow a consumer to pay for goods and services without the need to constantly possess cash. Alternatively, if a consumer needs cash, transaction cards allow access to funds through an automatic teller machine (ATM). Transaction cards also reduce the exposure to the risk of cash loss through theft and reduce the need for currency exchanges when traveling to various foreign countries. Due to the advantages of transaction cards, hundreds of millions of cards are now produced and issued annually, thereby resulting in a need for many companies to differentiate their cards from competitor's cards.
These transaction cards, while useful for completing financial transactions and highly portable, are often undesirable due to the requirement for a carrier, generally a wallet or purse. Therefore, a need exists for a system and method to address the above recited needs and for increasing portability and distribution of control of a transaction instrument.